Applicant is not aware of any system capable of validating promotional offers in the nature of a reduction or a rebate of travel expenses through a network of local merchants who offer to offset travel costs in exchange for patronage.
Shopping online has become a popular alternative to shopping locally at offline or “brick and mortar” businesses. Indeed, the popularity of online shopping has had a deleterious effect on the continued viability of many brick-and-mortar businesses, driving smaller mom-and-pop operations to shut down. The commercial centers and urban cores that house these businesses have felt a corresponding drop in commercial activity and loss of tax revenue. A primary driver in the growth of online shopping has been the introduction of conditional free shipping by online retailers. Conditional free shipping lowers costs (shipping and carriage fees) to customers while serving to increase the average spend per transaction by tapping consumer psychology.
Parking validation has long been utilized by both parking operators and other businesses to help consumers offset the cost of parking associated with visiting a particular business district or establishment. Parking validation is typically a co-operative effort between restaurants, retailers and other businesses (validators) and parking facilities, wherein validators subsidize (in part or whole) the parking fees of visitors as who patronize their business. Parking facilities typically charge participating validators incrementally per validation, or charge validators a predetermined amount for a line-of-credit (monthly, yearly). Validators participate in parking validation programs as a measurable way to increase sales at a relatively nominal cost and to foster long-term customer loyalty. Some parking validation programs are typically operated via a paper ticket with a stamp and/or written marking to denote validation. Some parking validation programs utilize an electronically printed paper receipt printed with a bar code that can be used to track validation. Parking validation programs limit consumers to validating with only a single validator. Parking validation programs are typically operated on a garage by garage basis. A single garage will accept validation by a select group of validators and a given validator will only validate parking at a single garage.